A federal judge largely upheld an opinion of a magistrate judge who had dismissed the lawsuit, but found one argument that will allow a case filed by the brother and sister-in-law of disgraced general Michael Flynn against CNN for linking them to QAnon to go forward, Politico reports.
Jack and Leslie Flynn filed a $75 million lawsuit against the network seeking damages, claiming CNN defamed them repeatedly by using a video of them and Mike Flynn swearing allegiance to QAnon as part of the commercial for a special about the conspiracy theory, saying “CNN goes inside a gathering of QAnon followers.”
The magistrate judge had thrown out the lawsuit earlier, but the federal judge rejected the dismissal on appeal from the Flynns.
The judge ruled that the network did not conclusively demonstrate that Jack and Leslie Flynn were part of the QAnon conspiracy, despite having video of them swearing an oath and having tweets where they support Q conspiracies. The judge concluded that a “false light” claim could go forward because the hearing was not a venue at which the legitimacy of the evidence could be determined.